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63 electric recharging stations to be set up

Sri Lanka government is to set up 63 electric vehicle recharging stations countrywide with private sector assistance under its 2018 Budget ‘Blue Green Enterprise Sri Lanka’ initiative with a view of promoting electric cars and electric three wheelers in the island.

The number of electric vehicles in the country has grown to 4,000 today from 90 in 2014.

Around 50 electric vehicle battery recharging stations have sprung up in or near the main towns.

Electricity law will be amended to enable the regulation and supervision of the growing number of recharging stations emerging around the island to cater to the increasing fleet of electric vehicles.

Responding concerns of three-wheeler drivers associations, senior Finance Ministry official said that the government has no intension to push 1.5 million three wheeler owners into difficulty by taking all such tuk tuks out from roads.

The aim is to gradually introduce electric three wheelers to local transport field by providing 90 to 10 leasing facility to buyers of brand new electric tuk tuks.

Further electric vehicle recharging centres will be put in place for the benefit of such vehicle owners , he added.

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera stated that the taxes on the importation of electric vehicles including electric three wheelers, cars and buses will be reduced while rationalizing the import taxes on vehicles powered by fossil fuel.

The new formula for import taxes will be based on the engine capacity which will minimize the revenue leakages, he said.

The minister said that the import taxes on an electric car will be reduced by at least Rs. 1 million while the import tax on the high end fossil fueled cars will be increased by almost Rs. 2.5 million.

At the same time, the import taxes on a diesel three wheeler will be increased by around Rs. 50,000 in order to encourage the transition into environmentally friendly electric three wheelers.